What composers were thinking...

Posted: 8/12/12 at 2:33am

So after becoming more and more familiar with music theory and the voice... I am stumped.

I really wonder what andrew, sondheim, etc were thinking when writing some of this stuff. and if they live to regret writing it.

Examples:
Giants in the sky. requires CRAZY breath control.

Music of the night: a full 2 octave range from baritone. A flat to baritenor high A flat on the "E" vowel. I hear A LOT of singers sing it like this "Where you long to -b[A]e-"
so pretty much, you need over a 2 octave range as a baritone(which for guys is not normal), or the EXACT fach demanded for that song.

Chess - Pity the child
we are more familiar with this as "pity the singer" this has a riff to a D5.

Spring awakening - purple summer
WHAT DOES THIS SONG EVEN MEAN?!




there are other company number songs that are just outrageously written. poor second tenors and soprano's. a lot of the stuff is over their break with an extremely fast tempo.




If you have other examples, post below!!









Updated On: 8/12/12 at 02:33 AM

[jv92]

Posted: 8/12/12 at 2:40am

Andrew Lloyd Webber doesn't seem to understand the human voice. Take the role of Evita for example, or the insanely rangy "Unexpected Song."

Yes, Sondheim's songs can be tricky, and rangy, but I think he has an understanding of the human voice and what it can and cannot do.

Posted: 8/12/12 at 2:43am

"Andrew Lloyd Webber doesn't seem to understand the human voice. Take the role of Evita for example, or the insanely rangy "Unexpected Song.""


LOL. Randy Graff (old fantine on broadway) thinks he writes for British women. because they sing and talk RIGHT to their teeth.

[bwayphreak234]

Posted: 8/12/12 at 2:46am

I Will Prevail from Wildhorn's Wonderland. That song is crazy, and the strain it put on Shindle's voice can definitely be heard in audios towards the end of the (short) run.

[CurtainPullDowner]

Posted: 8/12/12 at 2:51am

Try singing Loesser's NEVER WILL I MARRY.
Judy told the conductor:
"Speed it up or we'll never hit those damn high notes!"

[jv92]

Posted: 8/12/12 at 2:52am

I mean, a song can be rangy, but usually it's intended for a competent singer. "Being Alive", "Not a Day Goes By", and even some older classics like "Soliloquy", "If I Loved You" and "I Could Have Danced All Night" are indeed challenging. But they're manageable and possible if you have the "pipes."

ALW's stuff is bizarrely impossible. And it's not just Eva in EVITA. Che's stuff is really insane. And regarding another score, in "Unexpected Voice" is a lady really expected to belt a high G? Is that even possible? Of course, one is going to go into their head voice as Bernadette does. And even that's tough!

Jason Robert Brown also seems to have difficulty with manageable ranges in his songs.

I wish songwriters would stop writing every male role for tenors and write a few good baritone parts. Even some of my favorite writers are guilty of this, like Adam Guettel.

Posted: 8/12/12 at 2:52am

"I Will Prevail from Wildhorn's Wonderland. That song is crazy, and the strain it put on Shindle's voice can definitely be heard in audios towards the end of the (short) run."


WOOW. you can definitely hear it. although no room for resonance to squeak out those high notes, she still sounds amazing.
I couldn't imagine that live though. -grin-

[JBroadway]

Posted: 8/12/12 at 4:59am

jv92, I couldn't agree with you more! I am a singer-in-training, and I am a baritone. it is so hard to find songs that work well with my voice, especially with Broadway nowadays. It's all about those tenor roles!

[AwesomeDanny]

Posted: 8/12/12 at 5:12am

Jesus Christ Superstar has some of the most insane ranges I've ever seen. Jesus sings almost three octaves, I believe, and those who aren't singing impossibly high notes are singing impossibly low notes. Almost everything that Andrew Lloyd Webber writes shows little understanding of how human voices work.

However, as to what these composers were thinking, they probably figured that anyone who can do it would sound amazing, and they would look as long as they needed to until they found someone who could.

[ClumsyDude15]

Posted: 8/12/12 at 5:47am

Purple Summer is a flower, and many times in the song flowers are mentioned metaphorically to represent the changing from one stage of life to another. By many accounts - the song in the context of the show is meant to mean moving from one stage of life [childhood] into another [adulthood]. The score of Spring Awakening has always been either praised for it's obscure and at times random lyrics with some beautiful melodies or mocked for being rather mish mashed and often times nonsensical. I like to think Song of Purple Summer is one of the songs that really does a good job of being metaphorical and fairly sensible.

You can see some opinions and more examples about the song here:
http://www.songmeanings.net/songs/view/3530822107858668665/

Updated On: 8/12/12 at 05:47 AM

[My Oh My]

Posted: 8/12/12 at 8:17am

I've always been stumped by "Bring Him Home" and "Anthem." I can't seem to pull them off in the original keys, yet, there are songs I can sing without a problem that are much higher.

And in the case of "Bring Him Home," I can't pull off the part that is sung in chest voice but I can easily do the falsetto parts at the beginning and end. And my chest voice is my strongest point, so, I don't get iiiiit!!!

[dramamama611]

Posted: 8/12/12 at 8:23am

This has come up frequently. Composers aren't thinking about the whole score that the performer needs to sing, either. It's only about the impressive moment. No concern for the strain of 8 performances a week.

[dexter3]

Posted: 8/12/12 at 8:28am

Unfortunately, it's not that Weber wrote music for British woman, Andrew Lloyd Weber just doesn't understand the demands of the human voice. He probably writes for his own voice, and figures, "if I can reach the note, then it must be possible to sing". When transposed for the female voice, it consequently crosses the break in the voice constantly and ends up being incredibly high. (the male voice and female voice are different, particularly how the male/female voice deals with high notes)

[jv92]

Posted: 8/12/12 at 2:42pm

The thing is, I don't think Lloyd Webber can sing all that well.

[Nickhutson]

Posted: 8/12/12 at 4:34pm

or even play the piano that well.

Or compose that well.

[Musicaldudepeter]

Posted: 8/12/12 at 4:43pm

Sondheim really doesn't like to let his singers 'breathe.' (By the Sea, Getting Married Today, etc.) but the singers that have technique and good training can easily breathe. It's idiots like Bonham Carter who can't sing By the Sea without breathing. Shouldn't have taken on the role if you couldn't sing it! Lansbury also had difficulty apparently.

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 8/12/12 at 4:44pm

So that makes Lansbury an idiot, too, right?

[Musicaldudepeter]

Posted: 8/12/12 at 4:57pm

Absolutely.

[JeanGudio]

Posted: 8/12/12 at 5:29pm

I have not seen spring awakening live but on you know what. I thought purple summer is supposed is supposed to be an antidote to the madness of spring

[darquegk]

Posted: 8/12/12 at 9:22pm

If "Purple Summer" were the only oblique, expressionistic lyric in the show, I would say it was bad and shoddy lyric writing. The fact that the entire show is written in that expressionistic style, using a series of linked color-based metaphors, gives it some sense of coherence and stability throughout.

[GavestonPS]

Posted: 8/12/12 at 9:34pm

A second-hand anecdote: a friend of mine was called back to sing for Sondheim when Roundabout was casting their revival of COMPANY.

As one would expect, those up for the leading role were asked to sing "Being Alive". Because my friend's audition was at 9 a.m. in the morning, he was offered the option of singing the song in a lower key, but he said, no, he wanted to do it in the original key.

He cracked badly on the high note at the end.

Sondheim looked at him and shrugged, saying, "Well, if you don't have the note, you don't have the note." As I understand the story, my friend didn't think the composer was being unkind; he was just stating the reality: if you don't have the note, somebody else will. So that's what composers are thinking.

And as it turned out, however, Boyd Gaines played the role and sang "Being Alive" in the lower key. Who knows how that came about?

Posted: 8/12/12 at 9:41pm

"And in the case of "Bring Him Home," I can't pull off the part that is sung in chest voice but I can easily do the falsetto parts at the beginning and end. And my chest voice is my strongest point, so, I don't get iiiiit!!!"

I KNOOOW RIGHT?! I can't even attempt to sing that!! What, are we supposed to sing Piano in our mixed voice (for a high A)? unrealistic.
Doesn't jean val'jean also sing a low A?



Updated On: 8/12/12 at 09:41 PM

[ILuv2shop531]

Posted: 8/12/12 at 10:33pm

I've been told that when Stephen Schwartz has been asked about tough songs he has written like "In Whatever Time We Have" & "Defying Gravity", he has shrugged and just said "well there's atleast one person that can sing it"

Posted: 8/13/12 at 4:41am

"Yes, Sondheim's songs can be tricky, and rangy, but I think he has an understanding of the human voice and what it can and cannot do."

Yeah I agree. One of his hardest pieces, although a masterpiece, in my opinion, is "Something's Coming" from west side story.
It's not the dynamics that are hard. It's the super fast tempo (it may coming cannon-balling down through the sky...) and the constant random 8th rests and quarter rests (in the middle of a movement) The time signature changes like 5 times in that song... try memorizing that.

Updated On: 8/13/12 at 04:41 AM

[GavestonPS]

Posted: 8/13/12 at 5:01am

I'm sure you know this, but unless you've heard otherwise, Sondheim didn't write the music for "Something's Coming." So while he may be blamed for the complex lyrics in an up tempo song, I think the rests and time signature changes have to be blamed on Bernstein.

But as a rule, I agree, though his lyrics are smart and sometimes complex, Sondheim knows the human voice. He discusses decisions made to enhance "singability" in his books and interviews.